Oestrogen might improve psoriasis

[Fred]

This is a small abstract from an early view of a discussion that suggests Oestrogen could be a potential therapeutic option for psoriasis.

Quote:

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Abstract:

Majority of female patients show improvement of psoriasis during pregnancy. This is demonstrated to be correlated with high levels of oestrogen.

Even in male patient, oestrogen level is inversely correlated with the severity of psoriasis. However, a minority of female psoriatic patients still experience worsening during pregnancy.

Oestrogen might improve psoriasis by suppressing the T-cell immune response, reducing the keratinocyte (KC) cytokine and chemokine production, restoring the balance of redox and enhancing the skin barrier. However, it might worsen the disease by stimulating KC proliferation and promoting angiogenesis.

This complex role of oestrogen in the pathogenesis of psoriasis might explain why the two opposite effects of pregnancy coexist. Data shows that the number of improving patients with psoriasis in pregnancy is double the number of the worsening patients, suggesting that oestrogen may be potentially useful in the treatment of psoriasis.

However, oestrogen is not considered suitable as a long-term treatment subject to negative side-effects. This review discusses current studies on taking selective oestrogen receptor mediators as a novel potential therapeutic option for psoriasis.

Source: onlinelibrary.wiley.com

*Early view funding unknown.